Rowan Gillespie

Rowan Gillespie is one of the most prominent, contemporary Irish sculptors, with a major international reputation. He was born in Dublin, but his early years were spent living in Cyprus, where his father was a doctor. At a young age he was sent to boarding school in England, and on completing his schooling, he attended the York School of Art. He later attended the Kingston College of Art, and the Kunst Og Handverk Skole in Oslo.Throughout his career as an artist, Rowan has had numerous solo exhibitions in Dublin, New York, Stockholm, London, Cannes and Los Angeles. However, in 1997, he moved away from producing small sculptures for gallery exhibitions in order to concentrate on larger scale, public and private, site specific commissioned sculptures. His public sculpture can be seen in many different cities internationally, from his native Dublin to Belfast, Cashel, Sligo, and Rosslare in Ireland. In the United States, he has major sculptures in New York, Boston, Colorado and throughout California. Across Europe, he has large scale commissioned sculptures in Lichtenstein, Italy, Holland, and Norway. Possibly his best known sculptures in Dublin are his Famine Memorial and his Kissing Couple.Rowan’s working methods, as a sculptor in bronze, are quite unique. He doesn’t involve anyone else in the production of his artwork, and has constructed his own purpose built bronze foundry which allows him to work alone. From the initial step of conceiving an idea, to modelling the maquette in clay, scaling up the clay model to produce a wax copy, and even pouring the molten bronze, he works completely by himself. He believes, that in order to put his heart and soul into his work, it is necessary for him, not only to conceive the idea, but also to be produce his bronze sculptures from start to finish.